Day 14. Paris to London.

It was a sad realisation on waking up this morning that we were saying Au revoir to France. the sun was shining and it looked to be a glorious, yet crisp day as we readied ourselves for our journey to Gare du Nord, The Paris Station for the Eurostar. It was a busy place, filled with excitement and anxiety as new lovers farewelled each other, and business people met for their Paris business. It was nice to watch all this happening from above, as the Eurostar passengers (travelling to the UK) have to clear French and British immigration before waiting in a waiting room that towers above the station, giving a very nice view of all the trains and drama that comes with international travel. Harry and Will, I know you would have loved this trip as much as your grandpa poppie would!

comfort plus!!

special wine for chunnel

Anyone recognise these?

yummy lunch

We had 2 very nice seats facing each other for this trip under the chunnel. They were very comfortable indeed with power sockets for charging up this tired computer, recline, free magazines and lunch included. The stewardesses or attendants were delightful and had come from London that morning. We thought the service was superb, and would definitely recommend the Eurostar as an option for travel between Continental Europe (I know - it just sounded good- LOL) and the UK...

Welcome to london St Pancras international

On arrival in London, we found a black cab and loaded it up with all our stuff - there is quite a lot of it, and it seems to be getting heavier. We passed some famous landmarks like Madamme Tussauds, Baker St Station, Oxford St, and others as we headed into Mayfair. We also passed Selfridges, where I was able to remind Cory that was where Avalon used to work. Actually, Av, we later thought of you when we saw a restaurant with fabulous fornasetti faces - your favourite!!!


We checked into our hotel, and it looked very posh indeed. In all my research for this trip, this was the piece de resistance, as we scored a bargain basement deal through a bidding site. I was expecting them to put us in the cellar, but they had received my email telling them it was a special occasion (so cheeky), and they offered us an upgrade to a deluxe room. We were very happy indeed! What a great start to our London visit. As it turned out, the air con also worked, so we kept a nice fridge like temperature - LOVE IT!!

Autumn colours in Hyde Park

Swans sleeping

 It wasn't long before we were pounding the pavement again and headed straight into Hyde Park. this is one of my favourite places in London and I wanted to share it with Cory. We walked through the Rose garden and there were so many squirrels. one even tried to climb my leg. He was looking for a nut, but sadly could not find any up my leg - LOL... The ducks and swans were all looking a little sleepy, but were gorgeous anyhow. The serpentine (lake in the middle of Hyde Park) water was cleaner than I have ever seen it, with no algae, or muddiness that I have seen so much of there in the past. It looked like fresh water. 

Squirrel chasing nuts

Fortunately, we had brought umbrellas, because just as we headed out of Hyde Park for Knightsbridge, it started to rain. This added to the excitement of seeing Harrods and Harvey Nichols, just as their lights were starting to twinkle. Both stores have set up their xmas windows and they looked amazing. The theme at Harrods this year is Disney starlets in xmas dresses by major designers. They were all stunning - Charlotte you would have loved this as much as Damian and Avalon would.! The Harvey Nichols windows were a bit more out there, but stunning as well. We popped into Harrods so that Cory could find a tin for the cupboard, and passed by the caviar section. It looked like a lot of fun, but horrendously expensive. A serve half the size of what we enjoyed as inclusive on the ship was £120. 

Harrods window- Cinderella

Snow White

After freshening up, we decided to walk down Piccadily to Soho. This was a fast sightseeing walk, passing Fortnum and Mason (home of the Queens stunning xmas hampers), Piccadily Circus, and Leicester Square.  We headed to Rupert St where we were meeting Peter and Craig, our cruise buddies from our last cruise together 3 years ago. This was one of the major excitements of this trip, as Cory has not seen Craig since the cruise, while the rest of us have caught up in OZ or UK. It was wonderful to see the boys and catch up with them. There was a lot of laughter, oodles of pints, and a fun night of sharing memories of our last cruise as well as all that has happened since. We found a delightful little Chinese restaurant not far from Soho and enjoyed our first Asian food since we left Australia. I think even Cory has missed it! 

After dinner we tried to talk Cory into a drag show, but he wouldn’t budge so we ended up stopping at a little pub called the waxy sisters. This pub is very skinny and has several levels. When you want to order a drink, you write what you want on a piece of paper, put it in a lift and use a rope to send down your order with the money. When they have made your drinks, they send them back up with the change. It was a fun novelty, and I think Craig must have know the manager, because he spent ages chatting to him. 

After a fabulous night, and reminders of our meeting time for tomorrow, we said goodnight to the boys and walked back to our hotel. It had stopped raining, so was a nice opportunity for some fresh air. When we got to our room, there was a large set up of chocolate mousse cake, fresh English apples, cookies, and drinks to say Happy birthday - what a nice touch!!! Left us feeling very special after a very special day!!!